[On Topic] Hawaii Star Party

Round Pizza Pie Are Squared!

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Greetings Fellow Stargazer,



Tis the season that I get many emails and phone calls from parents

wanting to get a telescope for their kids or themselves. The trend is go

get one at a local discount store for a couple hundred dollars. At this

point I usually tell them to get a couple hundred dollars in one dollar

bills, cut them up in fine pieces and throw them off a mountain side in a

strong wind. WHY??? Because one will have much more fun in doing this

then in the frustration they would get from a discount telescope. The

best way to figure out what kind of scope to get is to go to a Star Party

and look through ALL the different scopes and see which one would serve

you best. Then go and buy one just like that. Or join a astronomy club

and rent one. Or get adventurous and enjoy a great family project in

building a scope together:



http://members.aol.com/sfsidewalk/dobplans.htm



When pressed, I tell people that they should get at least a telescope

with the minimum of an eight inch diameter mirror in it. Regarding

telescopes, it's photons to the brain that count... soooo the bigger the

mirror in your light bucket, the better. It is kind of like pizza... the

area goes up as a function of the SQUARE of the radius... that is (pizza)

pi R squared. So bring at least a 8 inch pizza to the next Star Party

and we will calculate its area.



Speaking to Star Parties, where telescopes and pizzas abound, you are

invited to one on December 3rd!

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Star Party Invitation for December 3rd,

Sponsored by the Hawaiian Astronomical Society

http://www.hawastsoc.org

Dillingham Airfield - before sunset 5:49 pm)

(Star Party Directions are at the end of this message)

Bring:

http://www.bishopmuseum.org/planetar...5/12/dec05.pdf



Here is where I go to check the weather on a Star Party Night:

http://www.wunderground.com/radar/ra...&scale=1&noclu

tter=0&ID=HMO&type=N0R&lat=0&lon=0&label=you



If it is clear, you will be able to see many astronomical sights.

It's now that time of year to see Mars and Saturn, the Orion

Nebula, THE Great Square, the Seven Sisters and many other heavenly

bodies!



If you won't be in Hawaii, fear not. Check this link for a Star

Party near you!



http://SkyandTelescope.com/resources/organizations/

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If you miss this month's HAS Star Party then join us at the next:



***** 2006 *****

January 21st

February 18th

April 1st

May 27th

June 17th

July 15th

August 26th

September 23rd

October 14th

November 11th

December 23th



***** 2007 *****

January 20th

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Xena, the Princess 10th Planet



2003 UB313 (magnitude 19, in Cetus) is high in the south by 9 p.m. This

is the newly discovered "tenth planet". Astronomers at the WM Keck

Observatory have identified a moon orbiting Xena, a body they argue is

the 10th planet in our solar system. The discovery team is informally

calling the object Xena and its moon and Gabrielle, for the TV warrior

princess and her companion. The official names they will eventually get

are tied up in committees of the International Astronomical Union.



The California Institute of Technology's Michael Brown explains that

although observations can show that Xena is physically larger than Pluto,

without a companion body, it would be impossible to tell whether or not

it is more massive. "Finding a moon...allows us to precisely measure the

mass of the planet. A more massive planet will pull on the moon tightly

and it will circle the planet more quickly," he writes. "A less massive

planet will allow the moon to have a slow lazy orbit around the planet.

We don't yet know the speed of the moon, but when we do we will suddenly

have new insight into the size and even composition of the 10th planet."

The discovery could also shed new light on the history of the solar

system. Several of the larger Kuiper belt objects, of which Xena is one,

have moons, but how they acquired them is an open question. The

astronomical community has also yet to settle the question of whether

Xena is a planet, and indeed, whether or not Pluto should be given that

status. Many astronomers feel that Pluto ought more properly to be

classed as a minor planet, or even just as a large Kuiper belt object.

Xena's discovery has prompted the International Astronomical Union to

reconsider its definition of a planet. Currently it considers both Pluto

and Xena to be trans-Neptunian objects, and says that until it has drawn

up its new definition, that is what they will remain.



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ASTROPHYSICS: ON MICROBLAZARS



The following points are made by Wei Cui (Science 2005 309:714):



1) Active galactic nuclei (AGN) are some of the most powerful objects in

the Universe, and they are almost certainly powered by very massive black

holes at the center of galaxies. As clouds, stars, or other material fall

into the black hole, some of their gravitational energy is converted into

radiation that we detect on Earth. The accretion of matter by the black

hole is sometimes accompanied by well-collimated and powerful outflows of

material, also known as jets. Blazars are an important subset of AGN

whose jets are closely aligned with our line of sight. New work[1]

reports the possible detection of a long-sought downsized version of

these objects called a "microblazar".



2) Such microblazars could hypothetically exist, given that there is

growing observational evidence for the presence of micro-AGN [2] powered

by black holes less than one-millionth the mass of those in blazars.

These micro-AGN belong to a more general class of sources known as xray

binaries, which are some of the brightest x-ray sources in the sky. An

x-ray binary consists of a stellar-mass black hole or a neutron star and

a normal star bound together by their mutual gravitational attraction. If

a black hole system also produces jets, it is referred to as a

microquasar, and many have been discovered over the past decade. A

microquasar whose jet points at us would be a microblazar. Although

circumstantial evidence exists, the presence of microblazars has not yet

been firmly established observationally.



3) One way to find microblazars is perhaps to look for very energetic

gamma rays from known (or candidate) microquasars. Some positive

detections were claimed but were nearly always disputed by independent

observations with a different (sometimes more sensitive) instrument or

dismissed on other grounds. It is fair to say that there has not be any

credible evidence for the detection of TeV gamma rays from any

microquasar until now. Aharonian et al [1] present a careful analysis of

the fields in their survey of the Milky Way with the High Energy

Stereoscopic System (HESS) array that covered the position of a

microblazar candidate, LS 5039. The image they show indicates a clear

detection of the source at TeV energies. The question remains whether LS

5039 is truly a microblazar. The authors are cautious in this regard.



4) LS 5039 is considered a microblazar candidate because it has been

identified as a counterpart to one of the still-mysterious sources

detected at GeV energies by the Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope

(EGRET) instrument aboard the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. It is worth

noting that most of the identified EGRET sources are in fact blazars. LS

5039 was subsequently observed and detected at x-ray and radio

wavelengths. An important recent breakthrough came from direct imaging of

the jets in the source at radio wavelengths [3], lending support to its

microblazar candidacy. However, unlike typical blazars, the jets in LS

5039 appear to be only very mildly relativistic; the effects of

relativistic beaming, which play an important role in blazars, should

therefore not be relevant here. Nevertheless, the detection of radio jets

in LS 5039 has generated much excitement and led to detailed studies of

physical mechanisms to produce very energetic gamma rays in microblazars

[4,5].

References (abridged):

1. F. Aharonian et al., Science 309, 746 (2005)

2. I. F. Mirabel, L. F. Rodriguez, Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 37, 409

(1999)

3. J. M. Paredes, J. Marti, M. Ribo, M. Massi, Science 288, 2340 (2000)

4. M. M. Kaufman Bernadó, G. E. Romero, I. F. Mirabel, Astron. Astrophys.

385, L10 (2002)

5. G. E. Romero, D. F. Torres, M. M. Kaufman Bernadó, I. F. Mirabel,

Astron. Astrophys. 410, L1 (2003)

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from: - George Gamow, "Quasar" 1964.



"Twinkle, twinkle quasi-star

Biggest puzzle from afar

How unlike the other ones

Brighter than a billion suns

Twinkle, twinkle, quasi-star

How I wonder what you are."

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The Wanderers (The Planets) this Month



Mercury emerges very low in the dawn late this week, but it's very dim.



Venus (magnitude *4.5, between Sagittarius and Capricornus) is the

dazzling white "Evening Star" in the southwest during and shortly after

dusk. This week and next, Venus is the highest and brightest it will be

in the evening sky during 2005 and 2006.



Mars (about magnitude *1.6, in Aries) shines yellow-orange in the east at

dusk and is highest in the south around 10 p.m. But it's shrinking and

fading as Earth pulls farther ahead of it in our faster orbit around the

Sun. In a telescope Mars is now about 17 arcseconds wide.



Jupiter (magnitude *1.7, at the Virgo-Libra border) shines brightly low

in the southeast during dawn. Fainter Spica is off to its upper right.



Saturn (magnitude +0.2, in Cancer) rises in the east-northeast around 9

p.m., and by midnight it's well up in fine view in the east. Saturn is

highest in the south before dawn, about midway between Pollux and Regulus.



Uranus and Neptune (magnitudes 6 and 8, respectively, in Aquarius and

Capricornus) are still in view in the south to southwest just after dark.



Pluto is hidden behind the glare of the Sun.

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Annual Meteor Showers



Quadrantids: January

Virginids: March/April

Lyrids: April

Scorpiids: May

Delta Aquarids: July

Perseids August

Piscids: September

Orionids: October

Leonids: November

Geminids: December

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Find what is moving overhead after sunset:

http://www.bester.com/

http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/RealTim.../JTrack3d.html



Check out when the next Iridium Satellite is available for you to

see:

http://www.heavens-above.com/Neighbo...PlaceID=593409

(for non Oahu Star Gazers...)

http://www.heavens-above.com/selectt...p?CountryID=US

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Check out:

http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/12months/m-dec-i.html



and bring the above list...



As for the rest of the Messiers, check out

http://www.hawastsoc.org/deepsky/messier.html It also has a link to:



http://www.hawastsoc.org/messier/index.html

(all the Messier Objects as photographed by HAS's local Jay Wrathall)

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Star Party Directions

(http://www.hawastsoc.org/directions/dillingham.html)



To reach the Dillingham observing site, take the H2 to the end at

Schofield Barracks. Drive past Schofield and follow the signs to

Waialua. At the Y intersection at Waialua, bear left and pass under

the bridge. Drive out of town a few miles until you reach Dillingham

Airfield. Dillingham is several miles long. It has three gates. You

need to drive to the far end to the third gate (marked as Gate 1 on

the color map). When you enter the gate, the road will curve left

behind some hangars. It will then take you through a very sharp S

curve. 1/4 mile beyond that is a stop sign in the middle of nowhere.

Turn right at the stop sign, and you will be there. You can find me

by looking for the big red telescope in the corner with a table with

lots of pizza on it.



You will need to reach the site before sunset in order to find the

gate open!!!



A few words on light. We try to maintain dark conditions at the site.

Therefore we have certain rules about light. First, no white

flashlights. The only flashlights that you should use are not too

bright, red ones.



When entering and exiting the site, do not use headlights. Some cars

now can't turn off their headlights. If you have a car like that

please park nearer the windsock then the telescopes. Point it away

from the telescopes. Headlights make you lose your night vision for

up to 30 minutes. It immediately ruins any astro photography that

might be in progress.



Bring some warm clothes, something to sit on, some real powerful bug

spray, a dim or red covered flashlight and some munches to share with

your friends.



Remember there is an absolute need to remain clear of the runway, and

anyone attending the star party needs to remain in the immediate star

party area. Do not be wandering around in areas where we are not

permitted. Especially near any planes (parked or moving)!

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Bishop Museum Planetarium Happenings

http://www.bishopmuseum.org/visitors/dailyschedule.html



Daily Planetarium schedule:

(808) 848-4136 for pre-recorded planetarium schedule.



12:00 a.m. The Stars Tonight (40 Minutes)

12:45 p.m. Explorers of Polynesia in Japanese, (30 Minutes)

1:30 p.m.Explorers of Mauna Kea, (30 Minutes)

2:30-3:15p.m. Observatory is open for solar viewing

3:30 p.m. Explorers of Polynesia in English, (45 Minutes)



Barry Peckham will host the Sky Tonight program on the first Friday

of each month. Reservations are required as there is limited seating

in the planetarium. Call 848-4168 for information and reservations.

Tickets cost $4 for adults, $3 for kids, free to Bishop Museum

members and Hawaiian Astronomical Society members.

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After Dark with Stars in the Park

Waikele Community Park

OR... Kahala Park

(Weather permitting)

***** 2005 *****

December 10th



***** 2006 *****

January 7th



FROM DUSK to 9:30 PM

Bring your children! Tell your friends!

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Visit the cosmos via:



The HAS HomePage: http://www.hawastsoc.org/ or go to

(or show up at meeting 7:30pm first Tue of month)

and check out the Bishop Museum Planetarium Home Page

http://bishopmuseum.org/exhibits/pla...anetarium.html

and the Institute for Astronomy Colloquia/Seminars

http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/

http://apollo-society.org/launchpad39_A.html



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Keep Looking Sky Ward



Namaste...Gary "MacYoda" Ward



http://homepage.mac.com/macyoda/PhotoAlbum6.html

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"The computer is to the mind as the amplifier is to sound."

Paul Maurer

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Life may not be the party we planned on, but while we are here,

we might as well dance. ------ Unknown =-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=







--

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